Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $450.00| Rating: 10

Pros:

light/ sharp

Cons:

a bit fat with the lenshood

Very sharp / ideal 50 mm FF alternative

jnolan

Registered: May 2012Posts: 7

Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 ASPH LEICA D SUMMILUX review by jnolan

Review Date: 5/31/2012

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $600.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Image quality, Speed

Cons:

Size, Weight

This is the great, fast prime for the 4/3 system. I've never used a real Leica, so I'm not sure exactly how it would compare. The only lenses I've got right now that I would say have better image quality are the Oly 14-35mm f-2 and the Oly 50mm f-2. But this is splitting hairs. They're all fantastic.

My favorite use for this lens is to take photos of multiple people and photos of children. For adults, I generally prefer the 50mm f-2 because they stay still (it's a slow focusing lens) and appreciate personal space.

Children love it when you're up in their faces, and they're constantly moving so the f-1.4 can really help if want to shoot with soft natural light, especially inside.

With multiple people, I find that the 25mm focal length is quite good. I can adjust the aperture to get the bokeh I want. Speaking of bokeh, this lens supplies very, very nice bokeh. It's very smooth.

The biggest flaw for me comes from a feature some people might actually like - the image stabilization in the lens makes it heavy and large. I use the lens with an Oly E-5, so the image stabilization is useless for me. I would much prefer the lens to weigh less and be smaller.

But, I don't have a choice. Oh well.. It's a minor quibble.

MartinM

Registered: November 2008Posts: 31

Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 ASPH LEICA D SUMMILUX review by MartinM

Review Date: 6/29/2009

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $900.00| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp, fast AF, CDAF support,

Cons:

Weight, Closest focus distance, price

Probably one of the best primes i ever had.

Tack sharp even at f1.4. Very good corner sharpness

Zuiko 50 F2 is as good, however this one here has CDAF support, has F1.4 and is not too long for indoor shooting.

It is no macro. 38cm focus distance is far from being macro capable.

Distortion is well controlled.

Large hood

So far, worth all the money

Kaiser Soze

Registered: December 2008Posts: 3

Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 ASPH LEICA D SUMMILUX review by Kaiser Soze

Review Date: 12/20/2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $650.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharp, Smooth Bokeh, Excellent color

Cons:

Pricey, A bit large on the non-pro DSLRs

Amazing lens. I had the 30mm Sigma and the image quality is night and day. The Pana-Leica 25mm is well worth the hefty price tag. Very sharp at F1.4 and even sharper at F4. I use this lens as a full body portrait lens at F8 with a RAY FLASH on the FL-50r.

RRJackson

Registered: June 2008Posts: 6

Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 ASPH LEICA D SUMMILUX review by RRJackson

Review Date: 6/22/2008

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $935.62| Rating: 10

Pros:

Finally, a fast standard lens for 4/3.

Cons:

Expensive. Hard to find. No SWD version available. Aperture ring doesn't work on Olympus cameras.

This is a lens that Olympus should have made and had available in large quantities when the E-1 first shipped. The biggest issue people have with the 4/3 format is that the high-ISO sensitivity of the cameras always lags behind APS and 24mm x 36mm cameras. A fast prime can compensate for that somewhat. This is an excellent lens. People complain that it's too bulky and for the smaller bodies it may be, but on my E-3 it feels right at home. Focusing is fast. I wish Olympus would enable the aperture ring, but that's almost a silly thing to mention. I'm not sure that I don't prefer using the control wheels, anyway. Overall, this is a must-own lens, even if it is too expensive. Now if they'd just come out with one of these at around 18mm we'd start having a set of lenses that could equal what we OM users had 30 years ago.